Anselm McLaurin, the oldest of eight brothers and the father of ten
children, was the last Confederate veteran to be elected governor of Mississippi.
At the age of sixteen, he enlisted in the Third Mississippi Artillery
and became well-known for his daring and bravery during the Civil War.

After his Confederate military service, McLaurin, who was born in Rankin
County on March 26, 1848, opened a practice of law at Raleigh in Smith
County. In 1871, he was elected district attorney. After serving one term,
McLaurin moved back to Brandon and was elected to the state legislature
from Rankin County. He and two of his brothers were delegates to the Constitutional
Convention of 1890. At the convention, McLaurin introduced a measure that
would disfranchise any man convicted of wife abuse, but that provision
was not adopted.

Following the death of U. S. Senator Edward C. Walthall in 1894, McLaurin
was appointed to fill the remainder of his term. The next year, McLaurin
ran for governor. He defeated Frank Burkitt, the Populist Party candidate.

When Governor McLaurin took office in 1896, the treasury was virtually
depleted. He called a special session of the legislature to increase the
ad valorem taxes and to authorize him to secure a loan to meet the state’s
current financial obligations. Governor McLaurin also called a second
special session of the legislature to consider the construction of a new
state capitol. The state capitol had been built in 1839 and was in extremely
poor condition. The legislature passed a bill authorizing a new building,
but Governor McLaurin vetoed the measure because he considered the size
and the design of the proposed new capitol to be unsuitable for the state’s
needs.

During Governor McLaurin’s second year in office, Mississippi suffered
a yellow fever epidemic which virtually closed the state capital. Almost
ninety percent of the people evacuated the city of Jackson in the summer
of 1898 and Governor McLaurin was forced to move to his home in Brandon
where he conducted state business by telephone.

After completing his term as governor, McLaurin was elected to the United
States Senate in 1900 in a campaign against Private John Allen of Tupelo,
a congressman and one of Mississippi’s most popular politicians.
McLaurin was re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 1906. While in the third
year of his second term, McLaurin died at his home in Brandon on December
22, 1909.

David Sansing, Ph.D., is history professor emeritus, University of
Mississippi.